I said: “We were still fighting the war. Our soldiers were still dying. Just because the war was close to an end doesn’t mean it was time to lay down our arms.”

As for the rest, see what you will.

I merely said that they had no impact, the war was won, and they were barbarity. And I have detected no noticeable display of empathy toward civilians of any ilk except American civilians. If the shoe fits, put it on. I just get into trouble if I call diamond a diamond, or a manure pile a manure pile.

If you’ll notice, you are excusing the meaningless slaughter of civilians, again. Read the histories of the war, and not just from an American point of view. They will have you believing Americans won the thing, when it was the Soviets, with American help.

For that matter, read about the effectiveness of American bombing of Europe. It was next to nil, certainly not worth the cost. Those bombers couldn’t hit a target. The best they could do is carpet-bomb, hoping against hope they hit something. Sort of like B-52s.

Where do you get off pointing your finger at “certain Americans”. Who do “you” and “your” Americans think your are? You and your people do not have an exclusive claim on sorrow or anger when it comes to the millions who have died in war.

What you said about the US was not a protest but an unjust condemnation. Comparing the extermination of six million Jews to Americans fighting a war against the Nazis is outrageous. I think you can’t see your own absurdity of wanting our side to fight a “nice” war.

Why aren’t you condemning Germany killing over 6,000 British by buzz bombs and the 3000 killed by V2 rockets. Those bombings are as about as indiscriminate as it gets. And you never mention Germany’s role in starting the war.

I don’t think you’ve ever mention the rape of Nanking. What about the Bataan death march? What about Japan’s scorched earth policy in China- “Kill all, Burn all, Loot all”. That resulted in the death of almost 3 million Chinese. No, instead you choose to harp on a few prisoners that were hazed at Abu Ghraib.

It’s almost as though your malice is reserved for the US. You’ve saved it all for your own country. While all countries committed war crimes you cherry pick and sort history and filter it with your bias to place the US in the worst possible light. As far as I can tell, your point is either we should strive to be a better county, or simply that the US is a despicable and shameful place to call home.

I don’t know whether it was your experience in Vietnam or something else but it’s left an insidious poison flowing through your veins.

The German Jews were slaughtered simply because they were Jews. The German civilian population was slaughtered simply because they were German. And if there were any Jews in there they died, too. I realize there is a class of American who will not see the similarity. They aren’t bad. They don’t see it. There is something missing.

I mentioned 9-11 only to point out that it increased American resolve the way the firebombings increased German and Japanese resolve. I can understand why you protest the mention of that because it points out the futility of the bombings.

The Germans and Japanese simply believed the Americans were completely savage barbarians and fought harder.

That the Dresden bombings were prior to the battle of Berlin is irrelevant. The Soviets were moving in, and nothing that happened at Dresden was going to stop them. Or contribute.

It was like being ahead 100 to 0 in a basketball game, having 20 players to your opponents 3, and they are old ladies dragged out of a nursing home, one minute left. And clubbing the old ladies, knowing the referee won’t call it. To object is “fucked up”.

Certain Americans cannot see the terrible moral issue that is, and one can feel sorry for them, on occasion.

Some Americans would say that’s

Save 911 for another day.

Leave the democratization of Iraq for another day.

We fought a country, a people, that were responsible for the direct murder of 6 million Jews in a systematic slaughter.

For you equate the US to the Nazi when we and the allies freed the Jews is…Just plain fucked up.

Doolittle’s raid on various areas of Japan was not what one considers firebombing of the civilian population.

The war in Europe ended when the Soviets captured Berlin. The firebombings of civilians in the West didn’t contribute to that.

Remember what 9-11 did to the American attitude toward Muslims and Afghanistan? (To see the effects of propaganda on the American people, note that public hostility was steered away from Saudi Arabia, which financed the attacks and supplied the people. Splendid job by Bush-Cheney, and virtually everyone fell for it.) Back to the point. The firebombing did not destroy the people’s will but enhanced it.

Let’s say they did contribute by one day the war’s end. What did those gratuituous bombings targeting civilians and the current defense of them say about America as a country? That we are terrorists, that innocent civilian lives mean nothing to us, that we are inhumane war criminals. Was part of the mission to bring “freedom” to the Germans? How were those firebombings different than gassing Jews? Both innocent, helpless people exterminated .

It was the same as pouring gas on a person in their death throes and lighting it.

That Roosevelt et al. would have been hung had the other side won.

There are good people who justify those bombings, even now. They simply haven’t examined the circumstances. Propaganda works very well upon Americans.

Fire bombing of Japan started in 1942 giving Japan ample notice of what we were capable of. We then continued the tactic starting in February 1945 until Japan’s surrender’ 6 months later.

Germany surrendered 3 months after the Dresden bombing.

We were still fighting the war. Our soldiers were still dying. Just because the war was close to an end doesn’t mean it was time to lay down our arms.

How long would it take to end the war fighting with more ‘humane’ methods of killing people?

And how do you know that these bombings didn’t contribute to the wars end?

I apologize for having forgotten those.

The Japanese could have been conventionally bombed and starved to submission. We had them surrounded, both on their island and in China.

And, I have said, given the mood and temper of the times, I would have ordered those bombs dropped myself.

So I don’t know where that criticism came from, but if there is something out there I’d be interested.

Oh, yes. I have said that WWII was fought over money, and that’s right. The US was trying to limit Japanese influence in the colonies of the countries occupied by Germany. United States ultimatums to Japan were tantamount to declaring war, and an attack was expected. Where wasn’t known, but it was more or less expected in the Phillipines.